Week in pictures: 8-14 February 2014

A selection of the best news pictures from around the world this week.

Olympic officials (blue trousers) jump out of the way as China's Kexin Fan crashes into the barrier during the women's 500m short track speed skating semi final at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

French President Francois Hollande was honoured at a lavish White House state dinner, capping a visit to the US aimed at renewing the partnership between the two long-standing allies.

A fighter recovers in his dressing room after being defeated during the closing Thai boxing, or Muay Thai, fight night at the legendary Lumpinee stadium, one of Bangkok's oldest boxing venues which is being demolished after 57 years.

High winds and rain swept across parts of the UK leaving thousands without power and many homes flooded. Prime Minister David Cameron said the government would "fight at every front to help people" hit by floods. Here, a wave approaches Cove House Inn in Chiswell, Dorset.

Britain's Prince Charles (centre) with his sons Prince William (right) and Prince Harry pose for the media outside Lancaster House as they arrive to attend the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London.

Mexican vigilante groups paraded through a stronghold of the Knights Templar drug cartel in the troubled state of Michoacan. The groups began an offensive last month aimed at ending the drug gang's activities in Michoacan.

A giant winter storm hit the north-east of the US, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. By early this month, Washington DC, Detroit, Boston, Chicago, New York and St Louis had recorded two to three times as much snow as normal by this time in the winter season.

An Algerian military transport plane crashed in the north-east of the country, killing all but one of the 78 people on board. The Hercules C-130 crashed into a mountain in Oum al-Bouaghi province, en route to Constantine, in bad weather conditions.

South Sudanese children from the Dinka ethnic group pose at a cattle camp in the town of Yirol, in central South Sudan. Fresh talks to resolve the crisis in the country opened in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, more than two weeks after a ceasefire was signed.

Labour leader Ed Miliband met patients at the Whittington Hospital in north London before delivering the Hugo Young lecture in which he set out plans for "people-powered public services".

An Afghan resident carries a child to be vaccinated against polio during the last day of a vaccination campaign in Kabul.